The Last
by Elfpen
Summary: If you had asked Obi-Wan Kenobi when he was a young boy what he thought he might be the very last Jedi to do, the thought would have never even occurred to him that he would be among the very last Jedi to die.


**A/N:** Fun fact of today: around 7-8 years ago, I used to be super duper into Star Wars. Mostly Pre-Saga stuff. Obi-Wan was (and is) my favorite. I wrote fanfic and favorited all the fanart, learned to write in Aurebesh, was active on fan forums, even won a fan award for some writing. I was in neck deep. I phased out of it after a while. Fastforward to today. I started watching _The Clone Wars_ on netflix as a way to occupy my mind from feeling lonely at grad school, and the later seasons are actually _really good_ and are bringing back all sorts of fond memories from the SW fandom. And now I'm drawing fanart and writing fanfics and I'm getting really pumped for Episode VII and honestly I can't remember why I ever left this fandom?

Hi guys! I was a fourteen year old when I last saw you, and now I'm (not really at all) growed up!

I missed you guys!

So obviously the next step is: _write an angsty oneshot!_ I apologize for any factual errors, I'm pretty rusty at the encyclopedic lore that this fandom has going on.

* * *

In a family, no one wants to be the last one.

You didn't want to be the last one to arrive at the dinner table, the last one to get the joke, the last one to receive sweets from grandma or know the new information trickling in from your extended family. You didn't want to be the last sibling to learn how to drive a speeder or a starship, the last son of the house to grow a beard, the last child to find your way through life well, or to find love.

But being last wasn't merely the chagrined looks and ruddy cheeked-embarrassment of childhood. Being last as a grown-up was far more daunting. You didn't want to be the last one to see your grandmother before she passed away. You didn't want to be the last one on planet when it was time to bury your father. You didn't want to be the last one who remembered the times of your childhood.

You didn't want to be the last one to die.

If you had asked Obi-Wan Kenobi when he was a young boy what he thought he might be the very last Jedi to do, he might've said something like "speak Huttese", or "eat tok nut butter every day", or "own a pet". He might've even sobered long enough to venture something slightly more serious; "become a grandmaster" or "master the Living Force". But no matter if you asked him this for a day or a decade, never, in all that time, would the thought have even occurred to him that he would be among the very last Jedi to die.

He wouldn't have believed you if you told him that his master, his friends, the council, and the great temple itself would all die before he took his final breath.

He wouldn't have believed you if you told him that he would be the second-to-last of all of Grandmaster Yoda's hundreds and hundreds of pupils, and the very last who knew what the temple had looked like.

He wouldn't have believed you if you told him that he would be the last Jedi in his starsystem.

He _would_ have believed you if you had told him that Grandmaster Yoda would outlive him – but he wouldn't have believed you when you said it would only be by a few months.

He wouldn't have believed any of it for most of his life. But as the wars dragged on, as Anakin grew more erratic, as the Sith grew in strength, Obi-Wan might've started to believe you. As he flew to Tatooine carrying a small, cooing baby and a heart as heavy as a black hole, he wouldn't _want_ to believe you. But when that baby was grown and watching with young, knowledge-hungry eyes as Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber one last time against the dark, Obi-Wan would know deep in his heart that he was the last. He would _want_ to be the last. The very, very last Jedi to die at Anakin Skywalker's hand.

In a family, you never want to be the last. Unless, of course, being last was something that you did _for_ your family.

Obi-Wan took one last long look at Luke and saw the future of his family. He looked back to Vader and saw the past. And finally, he looked to that unfamiliar, thinly-veiled place where he knew the rest of his family waited for him to come home.

With a smile at the last saber's swing, Obi-Wan Kenobi became the very last Jedi to fall in the reign of the Sith.

With this done, a new age of far better lasts could begin.


End file.
